children in substandard housing, inclusion, involuntary residential mobility

In the Czech Republic and potentially in other regions of the world, there is a problem of inclusion of children from socially disadvantaged environments and this situation is affected by many factors. One of the most significant ones in the Czech Republic apart from the ethnic origin of the children and the poverty, there is housing exclusion. This chapter focuses on children living with their parents in substandard forms of housing, which is linked with frequent changes of school due to involuntary residential mobility. Changes of places of residence and elementary schools combined with stigmatization generate many problems that contribute to the children’s school failure. They often find themselves excluded from informal ties that only develop gradually among pupils. Their needs for recognition and the feeling of belonging are not sufficiently saturated. The situation is made worse by a non-existent system of dealing with the housing shortage. Even if the Czech education system has been focused on inclusion, it has not sufficiently reflected the needs of children from the target group yet. Research was conducted in 2018–2019 to consider the impact of substandard housing and involuntary residential mobility on the inclusion of children. In order to undertake the research and to inform this chapter more accurately, a qualitative research strategy was used using the situational analysis approach.